Pequena Coisas 2
I saw an otter this morning!!!! Honestly. It was wandering across the road as I was driving to work (yes it makes sense - one part of the road is built as a submerged floodway so the creek runs over it) - as I drove up it got frightened and ran back under the bridge but when I waited on the other side it ran across the road and swam off. Sadly I couldnt get my camera out in time - Id fail as a photojournalist! But I'll be prepared tomorrow morning. Although theres some controversy here as apparently there two types of otters so now Im confused. Help?!
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After-work beers have a new attraction - we get to finish everyones lunch bags before they go home. And as Ive said before - they have to go home :)
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I mentioned about things being "complicated" yesterday. It comes from "complicado". Gee Portuguese is easy. Not so all the time. There are a lot of "false friends" in portuguese. For instance Ive been "constipado" all this week. No not what you think. Just a cold. If you have a lot of "reunioes" it doesnt mean you went to a private school and have an old boys (or girls) club - just you have a lot of meetings. If you "assiste a uma conferenca" you werent a helper, you just went.
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For those that like top 5, top 10, top 50, top 100 (or just like High Fidelity :) VH1 is music tragics heaven at time. They had the top 100 movie songs on the other week - which was awesome until they got to the Top 10 - Bryan Adams? Celine Dion and My Heart Will Go On No.1? Another top 100 was the 100 worst video clips - very interesting! Again Celine Dion figured highly (I'll never be allowed back in Winnipeg now!).
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The local farm has a Senhor Azule working there. Yes Mr Blue works on a farm in Portugal. I hate to think where Mr Pink ended up.
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Hard to be an Aussie overseas this week and not mention the Sydney violence. The hardest question I'd been asked here was "What is Australian cuisine?" Now its trying to explain what the hell happens when the yobbo element in our country runs riot. Reading blogs of people in Japan such as Tinear's trying to cope with the same thing you feel that we're all having our dreams shattered slightly. We look back to our country as slightly narrow-minded and boring but not confrontational or violent. We think of home as a sunny, relaxed paradise and come here (or there!) to seek a more diverse culture, a more challenging lifestyle which makes us expand our horizons consider our beliefs and philosophies. Im not sure how many questions the Japanese would ask (I suspect it would be impolite) but certainly the Europeans are asking. Ironic and perhaps superciliousgiven what happened in Paris, but then again those events may be a catalyst for questions - how can something which happens in suburban and depressed Paris also happen on the beaches and sun of Sydney?
3 comments:
I'm not alone in loathing the J media. You can watch an entire program about the biggest raddish ever grown, but decent news coverage of world events? No, that would disrupt the mechanics of the Mickey Mouse machine.
I have not been asked any questions about the Sydney riots at all. When I brought it up with a few teachers at work- "Did you hear about..", none of them had. They were also unaware of the oil depot explosions near London.
Sometimes I'll start a class by trying to incite discussion on current affairs. It's always an uphill battle. Only one student knew about the trouble in Paris. Doesn't help in disproving the bubble theory.
Hmmm as I suspected. The bubble theory is alive and well. Contrast the J media with Europe where the Sydney violence got coverage on every news bulletin - 4 per day, on 4 channels (not counting the 3 news-only channels or BBC World/CNN/Sky News), add the fact that people actually watch the news here and you understand why I feel some pressure to explain (when I dont understand myself!!).
At the other extreme Sky News gave the oil depot explosions round-the-clock "live" coverage when it really wasnt needed. Guess theres not much else to cover atm.
Police are urging people to stay away from key beaches - what the?! Stay away from the beach on the weekend?! So they've now lost the one escape that is always there in Australia when everything else seems sh*t. Hmmmm.
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